Tracing stencil



Aug. 3, 1965 c. RIESEBECK 3,197,878

TRACING STENCIL Filed June 27, 1961 United States Patent M The invention relates to a tracing stencil for the application of characters, particularly letters, numerals, mathematical symbols, or any other symbols, to the inscription area in drawings, documents, posters or the like, the tracing stencil comprising a stencil plate made of a transparent material and provided with tracing openings which correspond to the characters, and a holding device, provided with an adhesive member at the top of the tracing stencil permitting the users hand to adhere to the tracing stencil, by which the stencil plate is held at a slight distance from the area to be incribed, and to which a non-detachable or replaceable stencil plate is secured.

The tracing stencil forming the subject-matter of the invention is distinguished from tracing stencils of known construction in that it permits of a rapid and time saving application of the characters to be inscribed at determined uniform intervals by means of a tubular pen and ensures considerable facilities with respect to the necessary displacements and fine adjustments of the tracing stencil required for inscriptions on the inscription area, ensuring moreover that the eyes of the person using the tracing stencil are subject to minimum strain.

The invention consists essentially in that in a tracing stencil 'for the application of characters, particularly of letters, numerals, mathematical and other symbols, on the inscription area of drawings, documents, posters and the like, which comprises a stencil plate made of a transparent material and a holder by which the stencil plate is held at a slight distance from the inscription area, the stencil plate has a plurality of sectional areas, each sectional area being bounded by lateral lines of sight and containing one of the tracing holes, and each sectional area including part of the surface of the stencil plate above the tracing hole and part of the surface of the stencil plate below the tracing hole, and the distance between the tracing hole in the sectional area from the left-hand line of sight of the sectional area corresponding to the distance between two adjacent characters inscribed, and a transparent or inspection area, through which the character previously applied to the inscription area is visible being provided on the right-hand side adjacent to the tracing hole in the sectional area.

In tracing stencils of the hind referred to, all of the features of the invention .are claimed both individually and in combination.

One construction of the tracing stencil according to the invention is diagrammatically illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 shows a plan view of the tracing stencil;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevation of the tracing stencil, and

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view of the tracing stencil on the line 33 in FIGURE 1 on a substantially enlarged scale.

Using a tubular pen, the tracing stencil illustrated in the drawings in suitable for the application of numerals to inscription areas. It comprises a stencil plate 1 made of a transparent material and having a plurality of sectional areas 19, each sectional area 1-9 being bounded by lateral lines of sight 3 and including a tracing hole 2, part of the surface of the stencil plate 1 being disposed above the tracing hole 2 and part of the surface of the stencil plate 1 being disposed below the tracing hole 2.

Patented Aug. 3, 1965 The distance X between the tracing hole 2 of the sectional area 19 from the left-hand line of sight 3 of the sectional area 19 corresponds to the distance between two adjacent characters inscribed, and may, for example, correspond to the distance between letters as laid down in standard-ising inscription sheets. On the right-hand adjacent the tracing hole 2, the sectional area 19 has an inspection area 5, the size and width Y of which are such that the character previously inscribed on the inscription area and disposed underneath the inspection area 5 is clearly visible through the inspection area 5. The tracing stencil is moreover provided with a holding plate 6 made of chromium-plated, burnished sheet metal of angular section, on which the stencil plate is secured in position, its underside having two sliding guides 7 by which the tracing stencil bears on the inscription area, and a lateral registering surface 8 with which the tracing stencil is placed against and guided on a guide rail or angle rule. The stencil plate 1 is secured to the holding plate 6 by hollow rivets 9, so that the stencil plate 1 is held at a slight distance from the inscription area, and each sectional area 19 with its tracinghole 2, its inspection area 5, and its lines of sight 3 projects from the upper longitudinal edge 10 of the holding plate 6 in the form of a cantilever (FIGURE 3), the free longitudinal edge 11 of the stencil plate 1 forming the upper longitudinal edge of of the tracing stencil.

Secured to the top of the stencil plate 1 is a plateshaped adhesive member 13 which is made of non-slippery material, such as an elastic soft rubber, to the underside of which a layer of textile material 14 (FIG- URE 3') is vulcanised or glued by which material the adhesive member is glued to the stencil plate 1 by means of .an adhesive. The adhesive member 13 has two adhesive, knurled grip surfaces 1 5 and 16 which form a step downwardly from the registering surface 8 of the holding plate 6 and a smooth edge 17 between the grip surfaces 15 and 16, on which smooth edge a few fingers of the user rest when the tracing stencil is used, and, by applying a very slight pressure and with little effort, can conveniently displace, adjust and hold the tracing stencil in position on the inscription area to be inscribe-d.

All of the lines of sight 3 are provided on the underside 12 (FIGURE 3) of the stencil plate 1; they are produced by engraving or scratching them on the stencil plate 1 and are then dyed. More particularly all of the lines of sight 3 are rectilinear and dimensioned and positioned so as to extend from the upper longitudinal edge 11 1 of the stencil plate 1 to the upper longitudinal edge 18 of the adhesive member 13 in .a direction parallel to the vertical dimension of the tracing hole 2 so as to form the lateral boundary on the left side of its respective sectional area 19 in the stencil plate 1, the sectional area 19 comprising an inspection area 5, .a tracing hole 2, part of the surface of the stencil plate above the tracing hole 2, and part of the surfiace of the stencil plate 1 below the tracing hole 2, the whole enabling rapid and convenient time adjustment of the tracing stencil without strain to the eyes.

The use and purpose of the tracing stencil are as follows:

(a) For the application of individual characters on the inscription area, the tracing stencil is placed on the inscription area and drawn against a drawing rule or T- :square, an angle rule or the like being provided in such manner that the tracing stencil with its two sliding guides 7 bears on the inscription area, its registering surface 3 resting against the guide edge of the drawing rule or angle rule. The tracing stencil is then displaced along the drawing rule, so that the tracing hole 2 comes to lie over the position to be inscribed on the inscription area, the

tracing stencil being then held in position in the inscription area, and the desired character, for example a singledigitnume-ra-l, can be inscribed on the inscription area through the adjusted tracing hole 2.

(b) For the application of characters by means of the tracing stencil on the inscription area at a determined distance from the character previously applied to the inscription area, the tracing stencil is first displaced and adjusted so that the inspection area 5, provided on the left adjacentto the left-hand line of sight 3 of the sectional area 19, the tracing hole 2 of which is to be used, comes to lie over the character previously inscribed, which is thus clearly visible through the inspection area 5. The tracing stencil is then fine adjusted by displacement so that the line of sight 3 comes to lie over the right-hand contour of the character referred to, its one end being disposed below the character previously inscribed, and its other end being disposed above the character previously inscribed, so that it can be used for taking bearings, after which the tracing stencil is held in position on the inscription .area, and the desired character can be traced by a tubular pen through the ad justed tracing hole 2.

As far as tracing stencils of alternative construction are concerned, it will be understood that, for example, instead of providing the tracing holes in the form of numerals, they may also be provided in the form of letters or punctuation marks, or the like, of known de sign and arrangement.

What is claimed is:

1. A tracing stencil for the application of lettering especially letters, figures, mathematical and other symbols for the lettering of drawings, documents, placards and the like, by mean-s of a tubular pen and liquid ink, comprising a stencil plate of transparent material having apertures for signs conforming to lettering characters, a supporting device for holding the stencil plate in adjacent spaced relationship above the lettering surface, and support means for holding and moving the tracing stencil on the lettering area by means of the users hand, said support means being secured to the surface of the stencil plate and on the supporting device, and formed from material with a surface having a greater co-efficient of friction than the material of the stencil and the sup porting device.

2. A tracing stencil according to claim 1, in which the support means is of elastomeric material, said elastomeric material being adhered to a layer of textile material, by which textile material the holding means is attached to the stencil plate.

3. A tracing stencil according to claim 1, in which the sign apertures are disposed on the stencil plate, ad-

7 edge of the sign apertures and at its top end above the upper edge of the sign apertures, said sight line being disposed such that the distance between the sight line and the sign aperture corresponds to the standard character interspace for the characters series to be traced and said sight line facilitating the adjustment of the tracing stencil for the execution of lettering at equal distance apart.

5. A tracing stencil according to claim 4, having on the left-hand side of each line of sight, an inspection area of the stencil plate through which inspection area a previously inscribed character may be viewed.

6. A tracing stencil for the application of lettering especially letters, figures, mathematical, and other symbols for the lettering of drawings, documents, placards and the like, by means of a tubular pen and liquid ink, comprising a stencil plate of transparent material having aper- Cures for signs conforming to lettering characters, a supporting device for holding the stencil plate in adjacent spaced relation above the lettering surface, a sight line on the deft-hand side of the stencil 'plate, terminating at its bottom end below the lower edge of the sign apertures and at its top end above the upper edge of the sign apertures, said sight line facilitating the adjustment of the tracing stencil for the execution of lettering at equal distances apart, support means for holding and moving the tracing stencil on the lettering area by meansof the users hand, said support means being secured on the surface of the stencil plate as well as on the supporting device, and formed from .an elastic soft rubber material with a surface having a greater coeflicient of friction than the material of the stencil and the supporting device.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,022,384 4/12 Bahr 33-174 1,716,036 6/29 Dunning 33-174 2,379,791 7/45 Dolgor'ukov 33-174 FOREIGN PATENTS 193,432 12/07 Germany. 1,093,564 11/60 Germany.

WILLIAM B. PENN, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT A. LEIGHEY, DAVID KLEIN, Examiners. 

1. A TRACING STENCIL FOR THE APPLICATION OF LETTERING ESPECIALLY LETTERS, FIGURES, MATHEMATICAL AND OTHER SYMBOLS FOR THE LETTERING OF DRAWINGS, DOCUMENTS, PLACARDS AND THE LIKE, BY MEANS OF A TUBULAR PEN AND LIQUID INK, COMPRISING A STENCIL PLATE OF TRANSPARENT MATERIAL HAVING APERTURES FOR SIGNS CONFORMING TO LETTERING CHARACTERS, A SUPPORTING DEVICE FOR HOLDING THE STENCIL PLATE IN ADJACENT SPACED RELATIONSHIP ABOVE THE LETTERING SURFACE, AND SUPPORT MEANS FOR HOLDING AND MOVING THE TRACING STENCIL ON THE LETTERING AREA BY MEANS OF THE USER''S HAND, SAID SUPPORT MEANS BEING SECURED TO THE SURFACE OF THE STENCIL PLATE AND ON THE SUPPORTING DEVICE, AND FORMED FROM MATERIAL WITH A SURFACE HAVING A GREATER CO-EFFICIENT OF FRICTION THAN THE MATERIAL OF THE STENCIL AND THE SUPPORTING DEVICE. 